The present invention relates generally to concrete form panels for pouring walls, such as basement walls, and more particularly to a clamping system for such forms.
For pouring concrete walls, such as basement walls, a plurality of inner and outer concrete form panels are mounted around the inner and outer perimeter of the planned wall. Each of the form panels includes a flange extending away from the wall. Each of the flanges include a number of vertically spaced apertures which align with apertures in the flange of the adjacent form panel. Adjacent form panels are secured to each other via pins which are inserted through adjacent pairs of apertures. Each pin includes an elongated slot into which is inserted a wedge.
Usually, flanges on the inner form panels align with flanges on the outer form panels. Wire ties are secured between the flanges of the adjacent inner panels and drawn to the opposite pair of flanges on the outer panels to counteract the weight of the poured concrete and to prevent the inner or outer form panels from bowing out away from the wall. This technique works well for simply shaped basement walls; however, offsets or juts pose a particular problem. Many basement walls for current homes include short offsets in which a section of the wall is offset 8-14 inches. In this case, some of the short form panels utilized in forming the corners and short perpendicular section of the wall cannot be secured with the wire ties, because there is no directly opposite pair of flanges. As a result, large wooden braces are typically constructed to brace both the outer and inner form panels for example, from an eight foot high form panel. The construction of these extra braces is time consuming, and thus expensive.
After the inner and outer form panels are assembled, concrete is poured in between the inner and outer form panels. After the concrete cures, the form panels are disassembled and later reused.